Before you start participating in auctions you should know how to avoid losses from public car auctions. The best way to do this is to learn from experienced bidders, by either watching them or talking to them on the way to bid. You could also just attend an auction and watch the bidding procedure so that you are not a novice when it finally comes to your turn to bid. Bidding at auctions is a game in which only veterans win and the prize is a great vehicle at an amazingly low price. So your first aim should be to visit several local auctions and live auctions before you actually bid at an auction to buy a car for yourself.
Keep a predetermined amount in mind to bid
A safe way to bid is to keep a limit for the final bidding mount. This way you can see when the bids are going too steep and when you feel you can escalate your bids a little more. Playing it safe always helps are all the used car auctions which are open to the public. This is easily done if you have studied the values of the cars which you plan to bid for beforehand and know how much they should finally cost you. Compare the prices with those in the open market and the auction prices should definitely be much less than the retail market ones. This price should be at least 40% less than the market value if you are making a worthwhile buy. Apart from the price of the car there is also a premium which the buyer has to pay so keep this in mind when bidding. Also remember that if the car has been up for sale for a while now, it will probably require a certain amount of doing up before you can use it unless it is one from the repo auctions or the police auctions. So you will have to have sufficient money to pay for its repairs before you can use it.
Do not bid first
Wait and watch the bids before you start bidding as you may end up bidding too high and put up the price of the vehicle where the bidding will go beyond the actual price. You should also watch out for some bidders who have been planted by the auctioneers to start the bidding at a higher level. So wait to see how the bids are taking place before you throw in your own bid. If at all you are starting a bid, then do so at a lower price so that you have room to raise it comfortably and it does not go beyond your budget. In case you are over enthusiastic about a certain vehicle these planted bidders will make sure that they raise the price of this vehicle with their bogus bids. So play it cool and be poker faced.
Auctions are places where you ought to get cheap cars and make sure you keep it that way.
